Collider had J. K. Simmons confirm months ago that there is " one more JJJ appearance in the can" and that "from what I’m [Simmons] hearing there’s a plan for yet another." Just yesterday, Collider was able to get Simmons to reaffirm that those plans to include more J. Jonah Jameson in the MCU are still happening and that they had turned into ongoing talks.
In another piece from the same interview, Collider asked Simmons about the character of Jameson and his return to the role in a new context and universe.
NEWS
In an interview for the upcoming 4K Blu-ray of Whiplash , Collider asked actor J. K. Simmons multiple questions about his time as J. Jonah Jameson in the current MCU landscape.
Simmons was asked about the characterization and portrayal of J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home and the creative differences he and the producers had with the character. The interview also touched on the compromises they made portraying the head of The Daily Bugle:
“The only thing we didn’t a hundred percent see eye to eye on, I think, was how much is this character going to be the character from, I think, the comic books and from the Sam Raimi original trilogy, and how much do we want to evolve it and to have it be more contemporary or more… you know. I was very attached to what I had done previously for a variety of reasons. So I guess the compromise ended up being no hair. [laughter] Which I think honestly, that decision might’ve just been them going, ‘We don’t have time to make a wig. We got to shoot him tomorrow in the office.’ So, J. Jonah Jameson either lost his hair in the last few years, or he was wearing a hairpiece the whole time. I don’t know, you pick.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
It feels like what Simmons is saying about this version of Jameson, how he played him, and the compromises he made with Marvel Studios and Sony is that most of the changes to the character were in appearance and presentation. Jameson ended up being bald, was no longer the head of a newspaper, and had a presentation based on conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones. The changes to J. Jonah Jameson seem to be only surface-level.
There is still concern of Jameson giving such lavish praise to Mysterio at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home , which does put some doubts on Raimi's characterization. However, like Simmons said, they also mentioned the comics, and during the early days of the character, he was quite antagonistic towards Spider-Man to the point of unintentionally creating one of Peter's more famous villains, Scorpion, who fans already met in Homecoming .
It's possible that the MCU version of Jameson will grow softer over time like he does in the comics.
Maybe he'll get a wig, too.
